20070525

If I have to type Languedoc-Roussillon one more time I think I might switch to a stronger drink. The list above shows all the bottles of Languedoc and Roussillon wine I had over the last four weeks. That's a lot of Languedoc-Roussillon.

Although I think I'll be distancing myself from the mid-priced wine of the Midi for a while (be sure to cross over to the wild side for the Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman's edition of WBW 34) my fascination with the South of France remains.

Yes, I must really enjoy these wines if I drank 40 bottles of the stuff last month and then enumerated each one. It's a coincidence that I also counted 40 bottles submitted to WBW 33 by participants. That makes it a perfect 80-bottle month! Stats time...

The distribution of WBW entries is consistent with the physical distribution of the wines themselves in stores, especially in the case of the SAQ network. Looking at the catalogs in Quebec and Ontario, the biggest markets in Canada which are also both state-run agencies, you see Midi wine products broken down in the following way (Ontario liquor monopoly figures in brackets):

It's no wonder 23 wines out of 80 were strictly Coteaux du Languedoc -- its shelf presence can easily be 2 to 3 times that of any other Midi wine. It's also no wonder why I needed to look harder when exploring Roussillon wines. The SAQ seems to be relatively shy stocking the up-and-coming Roussillon region. Proportionally, the wines are less present in store, and in the end my Roussillon consumption was roughly equal to one half of final WBW figures. Don't worry, I'm aware of the disparity and I'm on it.

So you've got to ask yourself, did you find your bottle or did your bottle find you?

4 comments:

You and I were the only L-R white drinkers? Weird. Also, you're winding down and I'm on some manic L-R buying binge: have Corbieres, Minervois, Picpoul de Pinet, Vin de Pays D'Oc, Cotes du Roussillon... What's happened to me!

The amount of white produced there is a tiny fraction of all Languedoc-Roussillon wine. It's out there to be sure though and I'm certainly glad you found some. Your bottle meant that whites represent just over 2% of our total. I think in reality it's 5% of total L-R output.

I'm winding down? I've already cut into an entire week of WildWallaWalla's WBW34 prep time by continuing to post this late in May! You're on a manic buying binge? Did you see the cases of wine I've listed as copiously hoarded in record time! Do I need to show you my credit card bills!

From one Dr to another, I think I can safely tell you that we both can be considered crazy. Crazy for Midi midpriced wine. Yummy.